President Akufo-Addo has descended heavily on the 2024 NDC presidential candidate John Mahama for his recent attack on the judiciary.
Speaking at the NDC Lawyers Conference in Akosombo on Saturday, September 2, Mahama accused Akufo-Addo of appointing members of his party to the bench to influence decisions in their favour.
He thus charged NDC lawyers to prepare themselves to take up positions on the bench to balance out its composition.
“Our lawyers, some of you must be prepared to go onto the bench, I know that some of you have very lucrative legal practices you will not want to leave and go onto the bench. But you can see what the current President has done; he appointed the largest number of judges onto the bench. More than 80 towards hundred and counting.
“He’s packed the court and we know that they’ve packed the court because they want to avoid accountability after they have left office.
Reacting to this at the 23rd Ghana Bar Association Annual Conference in Cape Coast on Monday, September 11, Akufo-Addo said the comment by Mahama is very dangerous to the progress of the country and thus should not be made by someone of his stature.
The President further highlighted that this represents a significant challenge to the independence of the judiciary in Ghana, constituting one of the most severe attacks in its history.
“I have gone into this matter in detail because of a new issue which has been introduced into our public discourse by no less a public figure than the fourth president of the fourth republic, John Dramani Mahama who has told the world that I have packed the courts with so-called NPP judges and that one of the key purposes a putative NDC victory in 2024 will be to enable him to balance the courts with so-called NDC judges.”
“Not only are these concepts new in our public discourse but they are also extremely dangerous and represent the brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary by allegedly responsible politicians,” he said.